Taryn Varricchio: Garlicy lechón marinated for 24 hours paired with sweet ham
brined for seven days topped with two slices of
Swiss cheese and pickles for a punch of vinegar and extra crunch. All layered onto plush Cuban bread, brushed with lard and
pressed until warm and crisp. It's this classic combination of flavors pressed between Cuban bread that made the Cuban
sandwich a legend in Miami. Ham and cheese is one of
those classic combinations. It's straightforward, but you may see it served differently depending on where you go. Like down in Miami, where Little Havana is a haven for Cuban cuisine. And this classic marriage of meat and protein defines
their go-to sandwich. Customer: Cuban sandwiches in Miami are like pizza to New Yorkers. The Cuban sandwich is the pinnacle, and if you meet the top, then you are meeting us
at Sanguich de Miami. Rosa Romero: For Cubans,
we can make anywhere, on a slow day 80 sandwiches, on a busy day 150 Cubans alone. Taryn: At Sanguich de Miami, Daniel and Rosa spend the
most time preparing the meat. To make a true Cuban sandwich, they prepare ham and
roasted pork called lechón. Rosa: Our lechón and our ham, we use the same part of the pork, which is a boneless pork butt. For us, we find that it tends to be one of the most tender parts of the pork. One gets cured and the
other one gets marinated, is really the only
difference between the two. Taryn: The curing
process starts like this. Each ham is wrapped and injected with a
salt and water solution made with spices, like garlic, allspice, cloves, and coriander. Then it sits for seven days, building flavor by soaking up that brine. Whereas the lechón marinates
for one to two days before it goes inside the oven to roast. And when it's finished... Rosa: You end up with this
beautiful crust on the outside. The gold that obviously has contributed through the roasting, with all of the sugars and the honey that's in the ham. And so it's nice and tender, it's definitely juicy, really creates a power of flavors when you pair it up
particularly with the ham, which is a little bit sweeter. Taryn: What may be as
important as the meat is the loaf of bread it sits between. A Cuban sandwich simply
wouldn't be the same without Cuban bread. Rosa: Cuban bread for Cubans is what the tortilla
is to Mexicans, right? What the arepa is to the Colombians or the Venezuelans, right? It's just part of our DNA. Taryn: But what makes this bread different than, say, French or Italian bread? It's gotta have fat. Rosa: There's a lot of people
who may make Cuban bread, but they only use water. For us, it was really
important to be authentic and to make sure that we didn't take the lard out of the process, 'cause it truly does
make a huge difference with the Cuban bread. With flavor, texture, everything. Taryn: And while other spots
may opt for yellow mustard, Sanguich de Miami adds a drizzle of its homemade spicy mustard. And if customers catch
themselves craving mayo... Rosa: I tell them that Cubans are not made with mayonnaise, that I'll be happy to put it on the side, but that I will not be a part of ruining the Cuban
sandwich with mayonnaise. Taryn: After a drizzle of mustard comes equal parts lechón and ham, two slices of Swiss cheese, and pickles. Customer: I love the
Cuban sandwich because there's something about the mustard, the pickles, the fattiness of the pork. There's something about
that combination of flavors that's really layered
that hits home for me. Daniel Figueredo: It's the way you really palatize it correctly. Most people put mustard
and pickles together, and you don't do that. It's too much vinegar. It punches you in the face. It's overpowering. You need to separate them and give it a complementary meat. Taryn: And finally, the whole sandwich heads to the plancha, where it's pressed and finished off with one more thing. Rosa: Once it's being
warmed, we glaze on lard, and the lard that we use is the same lard that's rendered from the ham
and the lechón that we make. Daniel: The lard is what really helps kind of diffuse the heat. It has a very high heat index, so it doesn't burn, like butter. Customer: The meat's nice and tender. The bread is nice and crisp. Gives you that crunch. This is how I remember it. OK, so how do they open
up a shop like this up in Wisconsin? Taryn: More than 60% of the US's Cuban population lives in Florida, and a third of Miami-Dade County in particular, where Sanguich calls home, is made up of Cuban Americans, hence why the Cuban sandwich
has become a mainstay here. Customer: I have people all
the time, everyone comes into town and that's the
one question they have, "Where can I get a Cuban sandwich?" Daniel: It's part of generations and generations and generations of food. So, here in Miami, it's only natural -- Rosa: When we migrated here,
it was only natural that -- Daniel: For that to be inherited. It's part of our culture.
It's part of our DNA. It's part of the fabric
of our culinary landscape. That's my Cuban. Customer: No one's ever
really elevated the sandwich. It's been like a traditional staple with, you know, store-bought ingredients, but no one's really taken
it to that gourmet level of making everything from scratch, down from the pickles, to the mustard, how they brine everything. You taste it. You taste all the quality. Rosa: I think the Cuban sandwich with time has kind of become something we put on the back burner, where it's like a really
affordable fast food that you kind of just grab and go. But we wanted to take it
back to the old school where people really took the time and care to create their meats and to really curate a beautiful sandwich that you can truly enjoy. Taryn: And that sandwich they've mastered is one of the best Cubanos
you'll find in Miami, with customers coming from
across the world to try it. Rosa: We've had people
come in and show us -- Daniel: Like, a magazine.
Rosa: Magazines. Their magazines from Europe says that we must try this Cuban sandwich, and it's surreal. And we're humbled by the whole thing. Honestly, you know, you
put something in motion, you put all of your effort and love. You feel like it's something that is going to be appreciated. And then once they try it, the gratitude and enjoyment
that you see in their eyes when they're actually trying it. Honestly, it makes all of it worth it. Customer: Everybody loves a good sando, and every culture has a sandwich. This is our sandwich and our
culture in a bite, you know? Customer: It's kind of the whole package. You get the different flavors, the different textures. I love myself a grilled cheese with an addition of meat, but this is just its own thing. It's just, it's the Cuban sandwich.
